Recently, I picked up Little Empire, and while it does have a few technical issues, I can't seem to put it down. In fact, I normally get bored of new games pretty quickly, but I've probably logged a solid 5 hours of gameplay within the last 2 days. Being a ruthless king is hard work, you know.

First Things First

Camel Games describes this game as the "World's first LBS (Location Based Services) mobile MMO." While I can't be entirely sure this is actually a world first, it definitely is worth mention. In Little Empire you'll take control over your own kingdom, or empire as the title would suggest, and conquer the rest of the Little world with an army you build from the ground up. What's interesting is that this world is filled with other real players who are out to do the same, all in real-time.

Gameplay

Little Empire is extremely fun to play, really hard to quit, and offers seemingly endless gameplay. It also has some really pleasing visuals and a really clean UI, which scores vital first impression points in my book. In my opinion, if a game lacks the aesthetic appeal I'm expecting, it'll take a massive blow to overall rating.

To start off, you'll have to choose the hero you believe will drive your kingdom to victory. These are basic, run-of-the-mill character options we see in every game that shares the same genre as this one. This leads me to believe that you won't be overly excited when I say the options are:

A troll that has tank-like attributes.

A warrior that has... warrior-like attributes.

A winged, elf magic thing with horns that has mage-like attributes.

Once a hero is chosen you'll be taken to your kingdom. On the home screen there are several different options, I'll introduce and explain them individually.

Task List

The task menu is where most of the story-based (and I use that term lightly) missions will be. They include claiming target amounts of resources, helping friends, stealing from friends, winning battles, making key advancements, and a plethora of other simple tasks.

Arena

This is where you will meet actual enemy players for the first time. You can go knocking on the castle doors of anyone in the arena, but I would watch out because you can't see their unit setup until you start. Once the match begins, you'll be given the option to strategically place your army against the enemy lines, then a variation of tower defense battle ensues. Kill off every member of the enemy army or demolish the opposing castle first and you win.

Mail

Watch this area closely because it is where notifications of impending attacks will appear, allowing you to rally your troops. Mail regarding friend requests and other types of memos will also be here.

Friends

The friends feature in this game is a little off to me. You can extend invites to and accept them from anyone you come across, and making friends is important because they can help you fight off an enemy attack if they see you're in distress. However, what's odd is that friends can also steal your resources if left uncollected and attack your castle if left unprotected. It just seems like those would be enemy tactics to me, but I digress.

Build Mode

This is where anything and everything that can be added to your kingdom will be found. Build gold or crystal mines, houses for troops, unit training camps, plants and trees, prisons, and much more.

Other options include Setting and Daily Challenges, which are pretty straightforward and don't really need much explaining. In addition to all of that, you can also interact with your kingdom. Would you rather have an ocean front view from your penthouse tower bedroom? Move your castle. If you feel like you need a tranquil garden to reflect on all of the chaos you've been causing, then add some greenery. Plants and shrubs also have benefits like randomly tossing out coins and crystals. Cha-Ching!

Currency System

Most things can be purchased with coins or crystals, and many things will require a combination of the two. In fact, everything needed to advance in the game can be purchased with those two forms of currency. However, you have the option to buy (yes, with real money) MOJO, which appears to be some type of jarred blue liquid. MOJO will allow you speed up the time it takes to harvest resources and will also allow you to purchase upgrades for your hero like weapons, spells, and armor. Now, you will receive some free MOJO when you complete missions or level-up, but it won’t be nearly enough to get you that sweet stave for your winged elf magic thing. It is unfortunate that you have to actually buy in game currency to get some upgrades, but it is entirely possible to continue on without doing so. Just keep in mind that the game will move slowly at times and that's the devs' way of reminding you of the MOJO option.

Current Bugs

I understand that this game is new, but there are quite a few technical issues that are really frustrating. The game will constantly lose connection and either ask you to log back in or force close altogether. It will force close at random times during gameplay as well. In addition, after presumably quitting the game, the app’s soundtrack can be heard over other applications, even phone calls. With that being said, during the past few days there have been two updates that fixed a few of the force close issues. On top of the technical issues, grammar is completely negated throughout the app - some sentences don’t even make any sense. While that isn’t much of an issue, it just really bothers me.

Conclusion

What makes this game so addictive is the fact that you have to keep coming back to check on several different time intensive aspects. You’ll have to make sure other players haven't stolen precious resources, freed your prisoners, or attacked your castle. Once you've done that, you figure it wouldn’t hurt to make some improvements to your kingdom and dominate some other players while you're at it, and before you know it, quite a bit of time has passed.

I noticed I began to get really angry when other players stole things from me, driving me to demolish their forces and enslave them for payback (I rule my kingdom with an iron fist). Ultimately, this made me check back even more to make sure other players weren’t coming to free my prisoners or attack my castle while my defenses were abroad. So I started training more attack units (further involving me in the game...) so I could keep my home front defended while I was off flexing my king-sized muscles on the front lines.

On another note, I feel that the LBS (Location Based Service) feature could be implemented more throughout the game. Currently, the only functional role it seems to play is defining the distance and time it takes to march your army to other players' kingdoms. Personally, I would like to see things like location based factions or clans. The entire LBS system just seems lackluster, especially considering that the game description puts so much emphasis on it.

Other than the lack of LBS integration, technical and grammatical issues, and the MOJO factor, this game is pretty cool. It's addictive, fun to play, and aesthetically appealing. Who wouldn't want to own their own castle and dominate the world?

This could all be yours if you check out the link below. Other than MOJO purchases in-game, it's free to install.

Brandon says he likes to live life on the edge. By that he means eating ice cream for breakfast and wearing house slippers to class. Aside from all of the ballsy action he partakes in, he's a mass communications student that spends much of his time studying or tinkering with his phone.

Comments

G4N0N

Excelente juego

fred

I was charged 49.99 when i wasnt even playing the game. I never purchased 49.99 worth of mojo and want my money back

Andy

lol nope its not the worlds first location based game. Parallel Kingdom uses GPS or WIFI to locate you and start you out where you live in real life ( although you dont have to start there if that worries you) and PK has been around for a few years. A lot of the above seems similar to PK but we dont have MOJO, instead we have food, which you can sell items for or buy with real money. I will admit though some of the above screenshots seem pretty good but still no where near good enough to pull me away from my PK and its playabilty. 5 hours in 2 days Brandon? lol on average i do that in 1 day on PK, sometimes even double that (i play at work lol). Oh and tomorrows update brings in some new nifty snow structures
If any of you join us on PK and would like some help and an in game friend, use my starter code (after the short monk tutorial) jjawo. All codes give the same so dont believe half of the reviews

Kyle

Thanks for the recommendation. It's a pretty solid game that keeps me coming back. Hate when "friends" have raided my resources though, but I really do enjoy defending my castle from attacks and attacking others. Really enjoying it at the moment.

http://part-timewarrior.blogspot.com/ Jin

Great game. But where can we get tips on how to improve?

cherri

Fun game soo addictive add cherri <3

Wyntre

Addicting game but need more friends add wyntre please

codey165

Very addicting game really awesome. But i got a problem, after i purchase MOJO, suddenly all my building dissapear and if i build a new barracks,error comes out " please re-login ".. ive tried to login but its still stays the same. Please help..

kkbb715

im having troubles battling with people. it says my hero is defending my castle. im so confused. and i dont know what prison cell there talkin about cuz i cant by one till level 6. i just started...it looks so fun but right now its just frusturating!!!

ive heard they have some errors and issues like urs..hopefully they fix them soon]
good luck

ugh fun game but confused! i cant battle with anyone my hero says its always defending my castle.
annnnd i cant find the prison cell the task is telling me....soo confused! theres no walk throughs or help online!!

add me too kkbb715

Stormvyper

Couple of things:
1. IIRC, your hero will default to "defending your castle" at the start of the game. If you click on your castle and select "formation", you can drag your hero off the field so you can use them in offensive battles (you attacking someone else). You don't necessarily need your hero for this mind you, but they're quite powerful compared to normal units, so it definitely helps.
2. To build a Prison, select the hammer icon at the bottom of the screen (you may have to press the arrow in the bottom left corner first). The prison should be on the first tab labeled "Build".

Anybody feel free to add me in game-- "Stormvyper"

kkbb715

thanks i actually ended up coincidentally moving them off the formation and figuring it out myself lol just earlier today and been kick ace since!! lol

and finally got to where i build a prison and figured that out as well!!

but now it like kicked me out n totally deleted me somehow!!!!! wtf!!
i sent my password to my email but havent received it yet! hopefully soon if not ill make a new login and im gonna readd youu!!! ill let you know to delete my other one if need be

zach

awesome game add me- meegs

Lethal723

looking for a lot of people to add me name is lethal723

Suggestion Man

They should really take stone suggestions from that sega saturn game than possibly calling it a tower defense. Formations were pretty fun then

vornn

it's a good game, love it

feel free to add me : vornn

GameKiwi

Love this game! I can't stop playing! Add GameKiwi

mac

I added a couple.of you guys. Name is mac and account name is phoenixfighter

http://Facebook.Com/the.False.Identity.Of.Jinro Jinro02

Old camel is your friend in dEfAult so that he can see the things that you are doing... To know that you are not using any cheats... Nice game.. Just explore the game do not be confused.. :)

genrulgrunt

Do u remember the first world of Warcraft ? A void has bin filled win my PC crash and the CD was ground to bust frozen thorn was close but to short now this game little empire is fun in three days I made it to level 12 I just can't stop

stormhaveny

anyone know what the icons on the items you can buy means? i'm guessing
that the first icon that I see on many of the items means that it increases garrison limits but what does the heart mean?

aaBoB

The heart is + to the castle HP so that it increases the amount of damage you can receive in an attack on your castle. :) in my opinion not that useful, the HP increases by 100 on every level up. Buy houses for more population and you'll be fine!

At what level can i recruit mages im currently level 13.pls help. Thanks

deadhungry6311

At what level can i recruit mages? im currently level 13.pls help. Thanks

Flog78

J'adore ce jeux il est vraiment très bien réalisé.

M4N15H

Add me ....names ShadowSong, lukin 4 frnzz won't steal resources ;)

Dino

Game logged me out as it was "updating" and now when I went to log back in it has deleted me and I have to start again...Anyone else had this issue?

stormhaveny

yes, but you should be able to go back to the log in page and log back in using your email or user name.

confused about mojo

Am I really the ONLY one that gets totally screwed over by the random wheel thing?!? I've spun that wheel probably 300 times and have NEVER, and I mean NEVER gotten any decent amount of mojo (more than 5), and have NEVER gotten ANY of the weapons and armor that spin around the wheel. It seems like it always lands on the worst possible option. I REALLY honestly believe that the wheel is set to give you crap rewards and isn't really random. Am I the only one to believe this?

Ryan

Of course not, its obviously rigged because they want you to spend money on mojo to buy that stuff, not to freely win it!

Marhouj

Yea same here lol got so pissed!
Great game though, I'm so failing finals :P

Marhouj

Oh and u can't do another account can u?

stormhaveny

I have 2 accounts, using the same device.

brian

I've reset the game but my name is renamed to: player4939492?!? and I can't rename ;s How I can make another account ?

and

Really? How did u do that?

stormhavey

My game crashed and I wasn't able to log into my original account so I made a new account. Eventually I remembered the log in information of the original. Now I have access to both.

Ayush14

Hi please add Ayush14 ^^

CoDy11694

Great game. Add me if you need friends.

Yuo

okay

gokhan

My game has a huge bug; cant build new building and cant move my buildings? Whenever I try to do these, it says "please relogin". Please write me a solution

davey

I have the same...

nick

Great game! Im currently looking for friends to help open my treasure chest and ill certainly do the same. Add me SourHaze

Russell

Currently started playing a day ago and i love it but im lacking friends :( that play. So I am looking for some friends :D Add Lethalbullet [yes they are all L's]

Earthsravage

Add me please EarthsRavage, will help with treasures (btw thats with a S between Earth and Ravage)

ryan

Add me Zyme Relapse

keith

I think stealing is fine and people are too emotional if they are bothered by it. if you have nice friends then they wont steal everything-game doesnt allow that anyway, and you win mojo by completing the daily challenge. i want my friends strong so they can protect me from my attackers and motivated. i lost 5 knights to protect a friend and thats much more expensive than anything i ever stole.

brandon

Do you have to use mojo to buy spells or can you use gold or crystal to later

IRONUTSS

Anyone complete the task called "a huge wave of enemies"? I'm currently level 13 and have tried everything lol any help will be greatly appreciated!!!!

Name IRONUTSS

aaBoB

Lol I had a real problem with it in the beginning also... But don't worry! I did it at lvl 12 by setting two or three rows of spear trolls in the frontline, facing knights. They should be able to take them out. After that just put your hero and rest archers, and you should be fine. Other than that, at lvl 13 you can recruit mages who totally counter knights, so it would be 2 rows of spearmen, 1 of mages, rest archers and hero on a random spot. Hope it helps!

salih

how can i do 13.lv duty

sd

My game keeps spinning around.. like my kingdom, i was told to reset the game, it didnt help.. i even uninstalled then reinstalled! It still keeps spinning and its making me feel sick.. some help?!

nick

Dude it spins by the tilt of your phone hahahaha just try holding it still, or if that's really a problem there's a setting in the options to turn it off

stormhaveny

OK could use a friend in game as long as you dont' take me prisoner.

Ellie

Addd meee, im a good friend, wont steal too much ;) ElliexLiights

lumkapo

how do you defeat a wave of 30 mages?

aaBoB

Archers archers archers, nothing else!

sux

There are not always prize winners as Big news says. They deliver Big news periodically even though no one wins prize by spinning wheels. In that case they make up imaginary prize winners. In addition the odds is too low. At least a third of users are not human but computer users which can not be helped for better game progress.

sux

There are not always prize winners as Big news says. They deliver Big news periodically even though no one wins prize by spinning wheels. In that case they make up imaginary prize winners. In addition the odds is too low. At least a third of users are not human but computer users which can not be helped for better game progress

fred

Chrged 49.99 for no reason i want my money back

hakunamatata0067

hi! newbie buy daily player here. add me.
hakunamatata0067

Tyler

I dont get it, nobody will ever attack me in the arena, nobody will accept my friend request, its like im the only one out there, yet you see level 5s in the arena with over 5 thousand battles under their belt. how is that possible?

Ive become addicted to this game lol. was just wondering how you open your treasure chest? one of my friends have messaged me telling me i can i just don't know how :(

lawrence gomez

i orderd 4000 mojos today and have not recived them i orderd befor but this is the first time this has happend and for a big amout my order number 12999763169054705758.1382951446048779 i ask to plz fix this prob. i called my bankand u have tookn my money and now i want my part 4000 mojos or give me my refund is all i am asking plz respond asap

http://www.pcpsports.com Michael

addme theduke19

davey

I have reseted my game, now when i start the game again my user name is player5632r4326542365436 or something and when i try to play i get the error "please re-login" i can't even play anymore.. any solutions?

king

is there cheats ????

Tyler

When will it be on iOS devices

tyler cardwell

I won the best weapon for my hero in the lottery, i was very excited until it said i hqd to be a certain level to use what i won that is the worst thing possible to me and it seems as though the owners take no ideas from players.